Positional locking tool pouch &amp; method of use

ABSTRACT

A tool pouch with an opening in a wall member is attached to a belt loop by extending a portion of a belt through both the opening and the belt loop in a manner to prevent lateral movement of the tool pouch.

The words “comprising,” “having,” “containing,” and “including,” andother forms thereof, are intended to be equivalent in meaning and beopen ended in that an item or items following any one of these words isnot meant to be an exhaustive listing of such item or items, or meant tobe limited to only the listed item or items.

“Rectangular shape” includes square shape.

BACKGROUND OF INVENTION

Tool pouches commonly used by carpenters, electricians, roofers, andother craftpersons typically are attached to a belt worn by the user.Such tool pouches include one or more tool holding members and apassageway through which the user's belt passes upon attaching the pouchto the belt. The pouch being held by the user's belt is usually betweena pair of adjacent belt loops on the user's pants, trousers, shorts, orother clothing worn by the user. The problem with such a pouch is thatit moves laterally between the belt loops, and consequentially, it isdifficult or inconvenient for the craftperson to access a tool in thepouch or the lateral movement creates discomfort.

SUMMARY OF INVENTION

This invention has one or more features as discussed subsequentlyherein. After reading the following section entitled “DETAILEDDESCRIPTION OF ONE EMBODIMENT OF THIS INVENTION,” one will understandhow the features of this invention provide its benefits. These benefitsinclude, but are not limited to: avoidance of lateral movement of a toolpouch carried on the user's belt, positioning the pouch at single placealong the user's waist for easy and convenient access to tool in thepouch, and elimination of any discomfort associated with lateralmovement of the pouch along the belt.

Without limiting the scope of this invention as expressed by the claimsthat follow, some, but not necessarily all, of the tool pouch's featuresare:

One, the tool pouch of this invention is adapted to be attached to abelt worn about the waist of a user. It includes a front section havingat least one tool holding member, and a back section including apassageway having an entry end, exit end, and a wall member betweenthese ends. The wall member may comprise an extension of the backsection that is made of a flexible material bent to form the passageway.The passageway may extend along a substantially linear directionalorientation.

Two, the wall member includes an opening therein having a predeterminedsize to enable a portion of a belt worn by a user to pass through thisopening. The opening may have a length at least about as long as thewidth of the belt and a width at least about twice the thickness of thebelt. This opening, for example, may be elongated, substantiallyrectangular, and centrally located within the wall member. It may alsobe oriented substantially at a right angle to the linear directionalorientation of the passageway. The opening may have a length of at leastabout 0.5 inch and a width of at least about 0.25 inch. The tool pouchmay be locked in position at the side of a user using the opening intowhich a belt loop on the user's clothing is drawn by the user's belt.

These features of the tool pouch are not listed in any rank order nor isthis list intended to be exhaustive.

This invention also includes a method of securing a tool pouch toclothing worn by a user. The clothing includes a belt loop and the toolpouch has an opening therein. The tool pouch is attached to the loop byextending a portion of a belt through both the opening and the belt loopin a manner to prevent lateral movement of the tool pouch. A segment ofthe belt loop may be pulled into the opening upon drawing the beltsnugly around the waist of the user. The tool pouch may include a beltpassageway having the opening between an entry end and an exit end ofthe passageway.

The tool pouch of this invention and method of using it allows the userto be assured that the tool pouch, and thus necessarily tools itcontains, will always be in the same place along their waist. Thisassurance of always knowing where the tools are enables the user to grabquickly the desired tool without having to take his or her eyes off thework.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING

One embodiment of this invention, illustrating all its features, willnow be discussed in detail. This embodiment depicts the novel andnon-obvious tool pouch and method of this invention as shown in theaccompanying drawing, which is for illustrative purposes only. Thisdrawing includes the following figures (Figs.), with like numeralsindicating like parts:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing the front section of the tool pouchof this invention;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing the back section of the tool pouchof this invention;

FIG. 2A is an enlarged fragmentary view showing the opening in the wallmember forming a portion of the passageway for the user's belt

FIG. 3 is an overhead view of the top of the tool pouch of thisinvention;

FIG. 4 is a front view showing the front section of the tool pouch ofthis invention;

FIG. 5 is a side view of the tool pouch of this invention;

FIG. 6 is a rear view showing the back section of the tool pouch of thisinvention;

FIGS. 7 through 13 illustrate the tool pouch shown in FIGS. 1 through 6,with a portion of its front section broken away, and positioned adjacenta side of a user and being secured to a belt loop in accordance with themethod of this invention where:

FIG. 7 is a side view of the user illustrating a user's belt beinginserted into an entry end of the passageway of the tool pouch of thisinvention;

FIG. 8 is a side view of the user illustrating the belt passing out ofthe opening in the wall member;

FIG. 9 is a side view of the user illustrating the belt passing througha belt loop on the user's clothing at the user's waist;

FIG. 10 is a side view of the user illustrating the belt again passinginto the opening in the wall member;

FIG. 11 is a side view of the user illustrating the belt passing out ofan exit end of the passageway of the tool pouch of this invention;

FIG. 12 is a side view of the user illustrating the tool pouch securedto a user's waist;

FIG. 12A is a cross-sectional view taken along line 12A-12A of FIG. 12;and

FIG. 13 is a front view of the user taken along line 13-13 of FIG. 12illustrating the tool pouch at one side of the user properly secured inplace upon fastening the belt.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF ONE EMBODIMENT OF THIS INVENTION

One embodiment of this invention is the tool pouch 26 depicted in FIGS.1 through 6. In accordance with the method of this invention asillustrated in FIGS. 7 through 13, this tool pouch 26 may be secured toa belt loop 32 on clothing 32 a worn by a user. With the clothing 32 abeing worn, the belt loop 32 is at or near the waist 30 of the user. Asbest shown in FIG. 2, the tool pouch 26 has a rear opening 14 in a wallmember 12. Lateral movement of the tool pouch 26 is prevented byattaching the pouch to the belt loop 32 by extending a portion of a belt28 through both the opening 14 and the belt loop 32. Most belts usedwith the method of this invention have a width from about 0.5 to about2.5 inches.

As best illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 4, the tool pouch 26 includes a frontsection 20 and a back section 22. The tool pouch 26 is secured to thebelt loop 32 with front section 20 in the foreground as shown in FIGS. 7through 12. The tool pouch 26 may be made of a flexible and durablematerial, for example, leather, canvas, and synthetic materials such asnylon, typically in pieces that are fastened together. The presentinvention contemplates using multiple and different pieces of materialin the same embodiment. The different pieces of material may beconnected by any means that would be strong enough to enable the pouchto carry tools, such as, but not limited to, stitching or brads orrivets or any other suitable means or combination of means. The frontsection 20 has a number of tool holding members, for example, holdingmembers 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 a and 9 b, which may be cavities, slots, pockets,etc. into which a tool is inserted. Nevertheless, a tool pouch of thisinvention may only have a single tool holding member. The tool holdingmember or members may include any tool holding member style, design,number or arrangement.

The wall member 12 creates a major structural component of a passageway10 that receives a portion of the belt 28. As shown in FIGS. 1, 2, and4, an entry end 16 of the passageway is on the left side of passageway10 while an exit end 18 is on the right side. The entry end and exit endmay, however, switch sides depending on the way the user puts on thebelt 28, or on which side of the user's waist the tool pouch 26 ispositioned. The entry end is always the opening to the passageway 10through which the user first inserts a free end 29 of the belt 28. Theexit end is always the opening in passageway 10 from which the free end29 of the belt 28 is ultimately pulled from the passageway 10. The wallmember 12 is between the entry end and exit end, and the entry end andexit end are on opposite sides of the passageway 10. The passageway 10is substantially linear, but it may curve slightly to conform to thecurvature of the user's waist yet it projects substantially in onedirection. The passageway 10 is sufficiently wide to allow the belt 28to pass through it from the entry end to exit end. As discussedsubsequently in greater detail, the belt 28 makes a detour afterentering the entry end to pass through the belt loop 32.

The wall member 12 may be a continuation of the back section 22 thatextends up and away from a top end 26 a (FIG. 3) of the tool pouch 26and then is reconnected to a rear wall 23 (FIGS. 2 and 6) of backsection 22. The wall member 12 is connected to the rear wall 23 farenough down so that the passageway 10 is large enough to allow the belt28 to pass through it with ample additional space to accommodate theformation of the opening 14, usually by cutting away a segment of thewall member. In the embodiment illustrated, the rear wall 23 has anintegral flap portion 23 a that is bent or folded over outward with itsouter edge 23 b connected by brads or rivets 24 to an intermediateexterior surface portion 23 c of the rear wall. This, however, is notthe only way to form the wall member 12.

In the wall member 12 between the ends of the passageway 10 is theopening 14. The opening 14 has a length L (FIG. 2) at least as long asthe width of the belt 28 being used, typically slightly greater so thebelt may easily pass through this opening. The width W (FIG. 2) of theopening 14 is at least twice the thickness T (FIG. 7) of the belt 28,and typically 4 to 8 times the thickness of the belt. For mostapplications, this length L is from about 0.5 to 2.5 inches, andtherefore, the wall member 12 has a length L2 greater than the length L,usually at least about 20 percent greater. For most applications, thiswidth W is from about 0.25 to 0.75 inch. The opening 14 may be elongatedor oblong. In other words, it is taller than it is wide. Such anelongated or oblong opening has a major axis A1 and a minor axis A2,with the major axis being substantially at a right angle to thesubstantially linear directional orientation of the passageway 10. Theopening 14 may be centrally located in the wall member 12 and it may besubstantially rectangular shaped.

As shown in FIGS. 12 through 13, this opening 14 allows the user tosecure the tool pouch 26 to the belt loop 32 at the user's waist 30. Bysnaking belt 28 through the entry end 16, out the opening 14 through oneof the user's belt loops, the belt loop 32 for example, and then backinto the opening 14 and out the exit end 18, the user is able to securetool pouch 26 in place to the belt loop 32. As the belt 28 is pulledtight around the user's waist (FIGS. 12 and 13), it will bring the toolpouch 26 next to the user's waist 30. As tool pouch 26 draws near to theuser's waist 30, the belt loop 32 to which tool pouch 26 is to besecured will pass through elongated opening 14 as depicted in FIG. 12A.Thus, a portion of the belt loop 32 will extended through the opening 14and project inside the passageway 10, thereby preventing the tool pouch26 from sliding laterally along the belt 28.

FIGS. 7 through 13 show the individual steps involved in attaching andsecuring the tool pouch 26 at the user's waist 30. The user begins bypassing belt 28 through the loops of his or her clothing in a normalfashion, stopping before the user passes the belt 28 through the beltloop 32 at the side of the user. The belt loop 32 is the loop to whichthe user wants to affix the tool pouch 26. As depicted in FIG. 7, beforethe user passes the belt 28 through the belt loop 32, he or she firstinserts the free end 29 of the belt 28 through the entry end 16 of thepassageway 10. Before the user passes belt 28 through the passageway 10,the tool pouch 26 is oriented so that front section 20 is facing awayfrom the user and the back section 22 faces towards the user. FIG. 7shows the tool pouch 26 just after the free end 29 of the belt 28 hasbeen inserted into the passageway 10 through the entry end 16.

As depicted in FIG. 8, the user then continues to pass belt 28 throughthe passageway 10 until he or she reaches the opening 14. The user theninserts the free end 29 through the opening 14 so that it detours fromthe passageway 10. The belt 28 is pulled from the opening 14 toward theuser as shown in FIG. 8. As depicted in FIG. 9, at this point the belt28 is fed through the belt loop 32. As depicted in FIG. 10, once thebelt 28 passes through the belt loop 32 it is again inserted through theopening 14 into the passageway 10. In other words, it enters through thesame opening 14 that it originally came out of. The user continues toadvance the belt 28 through the passageway 10, heading away from theentry end 16 and towards the exit end 18. As depicted in FIG. 11, thefree end 29 of the belt 28 is pulled from the passageway 10 through exitend 18 and towards the next belt loop on the user's clothing.

As depicted in FIGS. 12, 12A, and 13, the belt 28 is then pulled throughthe next loop 32 a on the user's clothing. Thereafter belt 28 is passedthrough any remaining loops and the free end 29 is secured in a normalfashion to a buckle end 29 a as shown in FIG. 13. As belt 28 is pulledtight around user's waist 30, a segment 32 b (FIG. 12A) of the belt loop32 is pulled through the opening 14, thereby securing the tool pouch 26in place and preventing lateral movement.

SCOPE OF THE INVENTION

The above presents a description of the best mode contemplated ofcarrying out the present invention, and of the manner and process ofmaking and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as toenable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains to make anduse this invention. This invention is, however, susceptible tomodifications and alternate constructions from that discussed abovewhich are fully equivalent. Consequently, it is not the intention tolimit this invention to the particular embodiment disclosed. On thecontrary, the intention is to cover all modifications and alternateconstructions coming within the spirit and scope of the invention asgenerally expressed by the following claims, which particularly pointout and distinctly claim the subject matter of the invention:

1. A tool pouch adapted to be attached to a belt of a predeterminedwidth and a predetermined thickness and comprising a front sectionhaving at least one tool holding member, and a back section including apassageway having an entry end, exit end, and a wall member between saidends, said wall member including an opening therein having a length atleast as long as the predetermined width of the belt and a width atleast twice the predetermined thickness of the belt.
 2. A tool pouchcomprising a front section having at least one tool holding member, anda back section including a passageway having an entry end, exit end, anda rear wall member between said ends, said belt passageway extendingalong a substantially linear directional orientation, said wall memberincluding an elongated opening centrally located therein that isoriented substantially at a right angle to said linear directionalorientation of the passageway.
 3. The tool pouch of claim 2 where theelongated opening is substantially rectangular.
 4. A tool pouchcomprising a front section having at least one tool holding member, anda back section including a passageway having an entry end, exit end, anda wall member between said ends, said wall member including an openinghaving a predetermined size to enable a portion of a belt worn by a userto pass therethrough.
 5. The tool pouch of claim 4 where said wallmember comprises an extension of the back section that is made of aflexible material bent to form said passageway.
 6. The tool pouch ofclaim 5 where the opening has a length of at least 0.5 inch and a widthof at least 0.25 inch.
 7. A method of attaching a tool pouch to a beltof a predetermined width and a predetermined thickness where the beltextends around the waist of a user through at least one belt loop onclothing worn by the user, said method comprising the steps of: (a)providing a tool pouch having a front section including at least onetool holding member, and a back section including a passageway having anentry end, exit end, and a wall member between said ends, said wallmember including an opening therein having a length at least as long asthe predetermined width of the belt and a width at least twice thepredetermined thickness of the belt, (b) with the back section facingthe waist of the user, passing an end portion of the belt through theentry end of the passageway and then out the opening, (c) next passingthe end portion of the belt through the one belt loop and then back intothe opening, and (d) finally passing the end portion of the belt out theexit end of the passageway and drawing the belt snugly around the waistof the user, pulling the tool pouch next to the waist of the user at theloop to thereby restrict lateral movement of the tool pouch along thebelt and connecting the one end portion of the belt to an opposed endportion of the belt.
 8. The method of claim 7 where a segment of thebelt loop is pulled into the opening upon drawing the belt snugly aroundthe waist of the user.
 9. The method of claim 8 where the beltpassageway extends along a substantially linear directional orientation,and the wall member includes an elongated opening centrally locatedtherein that is oriented substantially at a right angle to said lineardirectional orientation of the passageway.
 10. The method of claim 9where the elongated opening is substantially rectangular.
 11. The methodof claim 9 where the opening has a length of at least 0.5 inch and awidth of at least 0.25 inch.
 12. A method of securing a tool pouch withan opening therein to clothing including a belt loop worn by a user,said method comprising attaching said pouch to the loop by extending aportion of a belt through both the opening and the belt loop in a mannerto prevent lateral movement of the tool pouch.
 13. The method of claim12 where a segment of the belt loop is pulled into the opening upondrawing the belt snugly around the waist of the user.
 14. The method ofclaim 13 where the tool pouch includes a belt passageway having saidopening between an entry end and an exit end of the passageway.
 15. Themethod of claim 14 where the passageway extends along a substantiallylinear directional orientation, and the opening is elongated opening andoriented substantially at a right angle to said linear directionalorientation of the passageway.
 16. A tool pouch that can be laterallysecured about a user's waist by a belt being connected to the pouch anda belt loop, said pouch comprising: a front section having at least onetool holding member, and a back section coupled to the front sectionincluding a wall member forming a passageway with an entry end and anexit end that enables the belt to pass therethrough, said wall memberhaving an opening located substantially midway between the entry end andexit end, said opening shaped to allow a user's belt and belt loop topass through the opening and into the passageway for securing the toolpouch in place.